


No one said growing up was easy

by Zoya113



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Homophobia tw (slurs), Hurt/ angst and then comfort, Snippets, time skipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-24 17:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21581584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: Snapshot looks into tough times growing up in Hatchetfield, and how much better it is now
Relationships: Emma Perkins & Henry Hidgens, Emma Perkins/ Paul Matthews
Comments: 30
Kudos: 75





	1. Melissa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Society has started to accept people like Melissa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, there’s some homophobia in this chapter so just take care if that’s something you aren’t comfortable reading!

“They’ve been in my ear all week about buying prom tickets,” Melissa grumbled. “Why don’t we just go together, Paul?” 

Paul shook his head, tapping his fingers against the stone wall they were sitting atop. “I don’t wanna go.”

“Oh yeah,” Melissa nodded. “I guess the prom scene isn’t the scene for you.” She bit into her ham and cheese sandwich, dangling her legs off the wall. “I just wish my parents would stop asking. It’s like they think you can just get a boyfriend from the shops. Bleh, as if I want one.” 

“Why do you have to go?” He asked. Paul had stopped eating lunch recently. He had told her it was because his final exams were coming up and the stress was too much, but Melissa knew that wasn’t true. Paul hadn’t been stressed about exams, he could almost recite the whole programming textbook back to front on command. 

“Because my parents want to make a big deal out of it, y’know? Get me a nice dress and some makeup and some heels,” she adjusted her glasses and groaned. “They pulled me out of softball practice the other day to go dress shopping and I haven’t even bought a ticket yet.” 

“You can’t go alone?” 

“The gym has a person limit I think. You can’t go without a date or else that’s taking prom away from someone who has one.” Melissa hated that stupid rule. It was bad enough her parents were making her go, worse that she had to go with a boy. From the first mention of prom her head had been tense. It was announced two months ago in assembly, and every girl turned to their boyfriend to fuss over what colours they would wear, and whether they’d go for pre-drinks or post-drinks or both. 

“School’s gonna suck when you graduate.” That thought had been heavy on her mind too. “Then who am I supposed to hang out with?” 

Paul shrugged, drumming his fingers a bit harder as a group of boys crossed through the courtyard. 

Melissa saw them and grimaced, hopping off the stone wall and closing up her lunchbox. “Paul, we should go.” 

Paul hopped down with her, wringing the bottom of his sweater in his hands and nodding. 

They took off out of the courtyard, heading out to the field instead where they could run if they needed.

She could hear Paul’s breathing grow panicked, and a small whimper slip from his throat as the boys came closer. 

Paul was in his final year, and she was only a sophomore, and yet she wanted it to be her responsibility to look after him. 

Melissa had been passed around from friend group to friend group, never clicking with any of them. And then when she accidentally let it slip that she was into girls, no one would accept her. 

Except for Paul - the boy who never really spoke much, and spent lunch time on his own playing Pokémon by himself. 

“D’you want to trade?” Melissa asked, settling down next to him. “I’ve got some cool cards too. But you can’t have my Espeon.” It was a joke mostly, and that’s why she was surprised when the boy spoke to her, and spent the rest of that lunch explaining why her cards weren’t as good as she thought they were. It wasn’t too much fun, but it was better than hanging out with the many people who wasted her lunches explaining to her that she was going to hell for being gay. 

“Hey! Why’re you guys walking so fast? Are you running?” One of the boys called out. 

“Don’t answer them Paul, it was rhetorical,” Melissa shook her head. 

But now that the boys knew they had been spotted they had no problem breaking out into a run, and were by their sides in seconds. 

The head of the gang slapped Melissa’s lunchbox from her hand with a laugh, grinning and she got down to pick it up off the floor. “Are you going to prom?” He asked. 

“Maybe,” Melissa tucked her box under her arms so they couldn’t take it. 

“With who? I didn’t know there were any other lesbo’s at Sycamore.” 

“I said maybe, Sam.” 

His gang used to target Paul first. They’d rip up his Pokémon cards or drop them in mud, but they saw nothing wrong with bullying the girl three years younger than them. “You aren’t going either, are you Paul?” He turned his attention to her lanky friend. 

He shook his head, his wide eyes watching the group for any danger. 

“He doesn’t have to go if he doesn’t want to,” Melissa stopped them before they could even start picking on him.

“Aww, you two are lame,” he snickered, shouldering past Melissa as he left. “But maybe that’s for the better. I don’t want to go to a gay prom,” he spoke like what he had just said was clever, and all of his friends sneered behind him like mirror images of their leader. 

“Fag,” one of Sam’s friends laughed as they walked away, quiet like he was trying to keep it a secret but still loud enough for her to hear. 

Melissa looked down to brush the dirt off her knees, but to hide the frustrated tears in her eyes. “Come on Paul. Let’s get out of here.”  
————————————————————————

Melissa was too busy swooning over their newest client to notice when Sam walked in through the office doors. 

“Melissa?” He asked for her attention and she didn’t even notice, her eyes fixed on their client in the meeting room where she was chatting with Mr. Davidson and Paul and a variety of other staff members. 

She waved her hand to grab Paul’s attention and he glanced over to look at her through the glass door.  
‘Is she gay?’ She mouthed. 

Paul looked at the lady once and then back at Melissa with a reluctant shake of his head.

Melissa let her head slam down on her desk in defeat.

“Melissa!” Sam whacked his hand on her desk and she shot back up.

“Oh my god!” She gasped. “Hi, Sam! Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention! Did you want me to page Charlotte and let her know you’re here?”

“Who were you looking at?” Sam asked instead, craning his head to look in through the glass door. He let out a long whistle. “She’s not bad!” 

Melissa frowned, resting her head in her hands. She didn’t need to be discussing her feelings with Sam of all people. 

“Ah, hey, y’know there’s a new officer on the force,” he leant in like he was telling her a secret and she leant back. 

She had a fair share of scars from her childhood to remind her of what happens when you get too close to Sam. 

“Doug, a bit of a rookie, but a good kid. They’re into women, sounds like.” 

“They’re?” Melissa tilted her head. 

“Uh yeah,” Sam took off his shades, fiddling with the arms, was Sam actually nervous? She couldn’t believe it. “Is that right? I’m new to the whole ‘pronoun’ thing. They’re uh- I don’t know what it’s called.”

“Non binary?” Melissa nodded her so hard her brain hurt. “Well you‘re right!” She was shocked. This was a whole new side of Sam. 

“Oh, that’s good,” he breathed out with a chuckle. “I’ve been totally avoiding them just incase I mess it up.”

“I mean, I can help you if you need it,” she offered, her own voice quiet in disbelief she was offering Sam anything. 

“Maybe you should stop by the station sometime, I’ll introduce you two and you can give me a lesson, hey?” 

Melissa blushed, dipping her head up and down. Wow. 

“So,” he leant back in again, putting on his shades and opening his hands up. “If you two date, you’re her girlfriend, but they’re your what?” 

“Just my partner,” her head was still nodding, and she was almost breathless with surprise. 

“I know you only date girls, but would you still date them? They don’t have a gender but they were uh,” his voice cracked like his throat was closing up. “They used to be, you know.”

“They were AFAB?” Melissa assumed, Sam gave her a blank look and she just brushed it off. “Yes. I’d date them.” 

“Cool, cool. I’ve still got some learning to do I guess,” he adjusted his cap, his laugh was like a rumble, and still sent chills down Melissa’s spine. “Now did you say you were gonna call Char? Can I just go down and get her myself?” 

“Uh yeah, sure. Go ahead.” She pointed in the direction of the IT office, watching him go. She needed a closer look at him to ensure that was really the same Sam that went to Sycamore with. 

And he was, he still had that ‘cock of the walk’ stride like he owned the place, and the big boots and the smug grin.  
The same Sam, but better, just by a little bit.


	2. Emma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma got herself a new father, and now life doesn’t have to be so scary

Emma sat on the floor by her bed, scavenging through her middle draw for another chocolate bar.   
She had made a wise decision to skip dinner tonight because Jane had gone out with friends so it was just her parents, and the both of them were in bad moods, but she hadn’t eaten since breakfast now, and she was hungry.

She never needed much to fill her stomach, but her snack box was empty tonight. 

She laid her head back against her bed frame, groaning. She had been skipping dinner a lot recently, and now she had nothing left to eat. She would have to go to the fridge.

She got up slowly, creeping towards her door and pressing her ear to the wall to listen for footsteps. It was two in the morning, so she doubted anyone would be awake, but she could never be too careful. 

She put both hands on the doorknob, turning it ever so slowly and pushing upwards so it wouldn’t squeak. 

She waited again, in the silence of the night she could hear her mother snoring in bed. 

There was a perfect path to the fridge that she had mapped out in her head. It was the only places she could put any weight on the flooarboards without them heaving and creaking. 

Step by step, Emma silently made her way down the hallway. She held her breath as she passed her parent’s room and exhaled slowly. 

Emma was trained in sneaking about, self taught. She didn’t have any other choice. Their house was so small that she could never get to the kitchen without her parents noticing, she could only go at night. 

She stepped up onto the couch, crawling across the pillows to disrupt her footsteps. That was safer than walking on the floorboards. 

The ground between the two couches in the living room was a red zone for noise-making, she wasn’t stupid enough to even attempt it.   
She had another skill for that - she perched herself on the arm rest of the sofa, bunching up her muscles and shifting her weight to her toes and her palms. And then, with a deep breath in she pushed off, leaping across the gap and sticking out her shoulder to roll onto the other couch in a perfect silence.

She slipped off the other end of the couch, readjusting her weight again and stalking towards the kitchen, sneaking through the archway. 

She pressed her fingers into the suction lining the fridge door so it wouldn’t squeak when she opened it. 

A job well done, her heart settled as the orange light poured out onto the kitchen floor as the door opened. 

But she barely had any time to react when she heard the scraping of something tip from the top shelf against the door and clash onto the ground. 

Whatever it was, it bounced once or twice before rolling across the tiles with a rattle that echoed in through the house. 

It pierced the silence like a knife, and Emma didn’t know what to do next. 

She held her breath, knowing it would only make more sound to retrieve whatever it was that had fallen. 

Her stomach turned over as the floorboards began to creak under the pressure of footsteps as someone, undoubtably her father, stomped down to the kitchen. 

She was a rabbit in headlights, just trying to interpret how angry her father was, and how much of a punishment she would receive. She backed up against the counter.

“Emma?” His voice was still tired and rough. “What’re you doing up?” He continued stomping into the kitchen, picking up whatever it was that had fallen and thwacking it against the palm of his hand. 

“I was hungry, I was just going back to bed,” she wanted to whisper but she was in too much of a panic to control the volume of her voice. 

“Well you shouldn’t be bothering me by waking me up when you could have just come and eaten dinner at dinner time.” He slammed the fridge door shut, placing whatever it was - maybe some sort of can? - on the top shelf next to the fridge. 

Emma preferred the darkness, that way he couldn’t see the fear in her eyes when she realised the can had been a trap. She would have to watch out for that next time. “Sorry. I was catching up on homework,” she mumbled.

“Oh sure you were. Emma Perkins doing her homework, since when? Hey, look me in the eye when I’m speaking to you.”

Emma tried to raise her head, staring at the spot just under his eyes and hoping the darkness would mask the fact she couldn’t bring herself to face him. 

“Well it’s an important assignment,” she lied. “For English, we all have to get it done, it’s super important for exams!” 

“Don’t lie to me. You’ve been at school how many years and you’ve just suddenly decided to start working?” 

Emma let the dark of the night hide her glare. She got enough shit from her teachers about her homework, but when her homelife was this dysfunctional, homework just never made it to her priority list. “I’m doing it this time, I swear!” 

“Keep your voice down, are you trying to wake your mother? You aren’t a child anymore.”

“Sorry,” she dipped her head back down. 

“I’m not done talking with you,” he snatched up her wrist. “Look me in the eyes when I’m speaking to you.”

He was too close now for Emma to pretend, so she had to. It made her lose her appetite and it sent shivers through her skin, especially where he was holding onto her. 

“If you aren’t going to eat dinner with us you can just wait until breakfast. Why are you still awake? Go back to your room.” He pushed her to turn around, grabbing her collar to shove her back down the hallway.

He clicked a finger at her bed, looming in her doorway until she was under the covers. “Can’t you just be more like your sister?” He growled before closing the door.

Emma wouldn’t protest her treatment anyways. She lay her head on her pillow to stare out the window at the bright moon. For her to survive in this house for much longer, it was dire to convince herself that it wasn’t that bad, she was used to it all anyways. 

————————————————————————

Emma peered up from her spot on the couch over at Hidgens in the kitchen.

He was preparing dinner, getting out plates and cutlery to set down on the table, but overall, he was busy being an oblivious fool that had no idea what was coming - the unstoppable storm of Emma. 

“You’re being awfully quiet over there, dear,” he called out to her, his back still turned like an idiot. 

“I’m not doing anything, Hidgens,” she told him innocently. “I’m studying.” 

“Well tell me what you’re studying,” there was a slight rise in his tone that insisted he was starting to smile.

“DNA replication, can you tell me about it?”

“Why don’t you tell me about it instead? You’ve studied that topic top to bottom. You’re an expert.” He told her, fussing around in the cutlery draw. 

“It’s your job as a professor.”

“It’s your job as a student.” 

Emma giggled, shaking her head. “Nope. I’m putting the book away,” she lied. 

“Dinner will be ready soon, Paul will be over any moment. Come help prepare the table dear.” He turned around to assure she was on the couch and she nodded her head until he turned back around. 

She grinned wide, sneaking across the sofa with her stomach low to the cushions as she crawled over them. She stuck her head out around the side of the couch to ensure Hidgens still had his back to her before gently placing one foot down on the floorboards. 

She moved forward carefully, walking on the tip of her toes and keeping her back low and her eyes set on her target. 

She crouched down behind the island bar, listening to him move to the other side of the kitchen towards the fridge. 

She held back a triumphant laugh, he had no clue where she was hiding. 

Emma pressed on, adjusting herself to stay in line with his back so he wouldn’t see her in his peripheral vision. She stepped lightly, knowing if any of the floorboards creaked her position would be given away. 

She prowled up close to him, remaining out of his line of sight. She slipped around to the fridge.

There was a smile tugging at his lips as he began to dice up the ingredients. He wasn’t sure what, but he knew there was some sort of trickery afoot.   
“Emma,” he said in a sing-song tune. “What are you up to, dear?” 

She bit down on her lip to stop her smile turning into a laugh. 

“Where are you?” He asked as his hand reached out to open up the fridge. 

“Here!” She cheered, pouncing up as he opened the fridge door.

Three things happened at once, all too quickly for Emma’s mind to comprehend. 

The professor had yelped in fright, reaching out to grab the wrist of his mystery attacker, he let the fridge door swing open, and a bottle of soda water rolled out off the shelf. Out of instinct Emma snagged it before it could hit the floor. 

“Good god, Emma!” Hidgens laughed, letting go of her wrist so he could put a hand to his heart. “You just cut ten years off my life!”

Emma beamed, handing him the soda bottle to put back in the fridge. “You didn’t even hear me! I was right behind you!”

“You’re going to kill me with these little games of yours one day, you should look into espionage!” He brushed down his sweater like he could brush away the fright. “I didn’t mean to grab you Emma, you just scared me!” He laughed heartily.   
“Where did you learn that little trick from? Certainly not me!”

Emma was quite aware of the fact Hidgens never scolded her for behaving childishly, even when it came to playing jokes on him. It was like he was allowing her to make up for the childhood she had missed out on. She liked her visits to Hidgens - it was a break from work and from study and chores, and she loved letting someone else be the adult for once.  
“I’m going to sneak up on Paul too,” she told him. “So you’re even.” 

“Oh, that’s funny of you dear,” Hidgens shut the fridge door after getting the last of the ingredients out. 

She nodded, her eyes swaying away from his so their gazes didn’t have to brush at all. “Oh!” She perked up, spinning around to the front door. “That’s the doorbell!” She shot him a mischievous look, dipping her head to the door. “Call him in for me!” She asked, pelting down towards the front door to hide by the shoe shelf. 

“Paul, the door is open!” Hidgens called out, a slight tell in his voice to be playing along with Emma’s joke. 

Emma bit her teeth down into her tongue as Paul opened up the door. “Hi professor!” He waved to him in the kitchen. “Dinner smells great, thanks for inviting me over!” he headed down towards the dining table and Emma fell in line behind him, hunting him down. 

“Oh, I’m glad you say so, young man.” His eyes left Paul for a moment to watch Emma follow up behind him before turning back to the counter with a husky chuckle. 

“Where’s Emma?” Paul raised an eyebrow, looking at the empty living room. 

“Hey Paul!” She couldn’t herd up her excitement enough to lower her voice, and her boyfriend didn’t look too thrilled to have her shouting in his ears. 

He didn’t yelp as much as Hidgens had, a hand flew to his mouth to cover his shock and his other stretched out to pull Emma in around the shoulders. “Hey!” He laughed breathlessly. “You’re a nice surprise!” 

She rested her forehead against his chest, hugging him back. “I’m just playing, I got Hidgens pretty good though!”

“She did,” he confirmed. 

Emma raised her head to look up at him, and he looked back down at her.   
Their eyes met, and Emma didn’t look away, in fact, she didn’t want to.   
“Hi,” she smiled, leaning in to him and searching his blue eyes with hers.

“Hey Em,” he leaned down to kiss her, amused by her strange fascination. “Now let’s get you something to eat, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God OOFH the ‘I read warrior cats growing up’ really jumped out in this one huh


	3. Paul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul hasn’t changed much, but the people in his life have

Paul’s corner was in the foyer to the library. It was tucked into a corner where nobody could find him if they didn’t know he was there. 

Every lunch time he would make a beeline to his corner while the other kids were still at their lockers and hide himself away from other students. 

It was supposed to keep him safe, and it did. There were always teachers in the library, so he had someone to go to when bad things happened. 

He didn’t need anyone to sit with at lunch, he was happy on his own with the deck of Pokémon cards he took everywhere.   
He always kept his 32 favourites with him, and kept them on the inside pocket of his jacket so no one could take them. 

Every lunchtime he would host his own card tournament against himself, where the outcome was always the same because he treasured his holographic Ivysaur card above all his others, and would never let her lose. 

There were other kids at Sycamore who had Pokémon cards, but they wouldn’t let him play with them because he spoke too much, but that wasn’t his fault! They didn’t understand how to properly play the game, and he had to explain it to them. He didn’t care anyways, he didn’t want to play with people who couldn’t play it properly. 

“Hey, Paul!” The library double doors had a funny lock on them, so every time one door opened it clashed against the other.   
The sound of metal scraping on metal pulled him out of his focus, and he scrambled to collect his deck as Sam entered the foyer. 

“Hi,” he mumbled, still trying to collect his cards. 

“D’you wanna Pokémon battle with me?” He asked, squatting down to Paul’s level.

Paul shook his head. “I don’t like how you play it.” 

He had only played cards against Sam once, and Sam had cheated. He played a strange version of the game where every time a Pokémon lost, the opponent would get to take that card. Paul had never ever played it like that, and he never would again after Sam took his Arcanine. 

“Well teach me how to play then,” he sneered, and his gang behind him laughed too. 

“Um, okay,” he hesitantly set down the cards he had tidied up. “Do you have your own cards?” 

Sam swiped up his Ivysaur off the floor. “Yep. I do now. This one’s mine now okay? What’s he? He’s like a grass type right? Bulbasaur?” 

“She’s an Ivysaur!” He corrected, trying to grab it back from Sam. “And she’s a grass and poison type, actually! She’s a seed Pokémon.”

“Wow, I’m not going to remember any of that,” Sam held the card up above his head so Paul had to stand up to try and get it back. 

“That’s my card, Sam! I need it back!”

“Aww, if you love it that much you should marry it!” In a swift motion he tucked it into his pocket. “As if you’re gonna get a chick when you play Pokémon when you’re 18,” he shoved Paul playfully. 

“Give my card back, Sam!” 

“You’ll have to catch me, loser,” he was grinning the whole time like it was some sort of game. His school shoes squeaked on the linoleum as he turned around, and the library doors scraped against each other as he and his gang flew out. 

Paul ran out to where Sam was waiting in the courtyard. 

He was holding it out in front of him but when Paul went to take it back he pulled it out of his reach again.

“Give my card back Sam, please.”

“Do you really want it?” He held it back out, pulling it back again each time Paul tried to take it. 

“Yes!” He snapped, cautiously turning his head to see how many people were watching on. “Give it back Sam, it’s my card.” 

“Well what if I want it?” He held it up above his head again. “What’re you gonna do? Are you gonna cry?”

Paul shook his head, but had to bite down on his quivering lip just to ensure it.   
He could feel the stares of the other students in the courtyard burning into his back. 

“Ahh, Sam,” one of his friends scuffed their fist against his shoulder to get his attention. “Here comes a teacher.”

Sam scoffed, lowering the card but keeping it close to him by crossing his arms. “Don’t snitch, Paul. Be cool for once.”

Paul didn’t want to disobey Sam, that would only lead to more trouble. But surely someone watching would tell the teacher for him then? He took another look at the observers, they had all turned back to their lunches as the teacher strode into the courtyard, except one girl who the sea of onlookers seemed to split apart to avoid.

She was the sophomore, Melissa Faith. She had come out earlier that winter so she didn’t hang out with anyone anymore.   
She had the same wide, worrisome eyes as Paul, and somehow that made it easier for him to look her in the eye. 

Her mouth opened like she was about to say something but the teacher had made it to the courtyard. “What’s going on here, boys?”

Paul watched with shock as Sam dropped the card, falling into a puddle of winter rain and mud. 

“We’re just talking, right Paul?” 

“Uh!” He meant to say something different, but right now the only important possession in his life was laying in the mud, and appeasing Sam didn’t matter anymore. 

“If you were all picking on Paul again we’ve spoken about this.”

“We weren’t, miss! We were just talking with him!”

“He stole my stuff!” Paul didn’t even notice he was yelling. “He stole my Ivysaur and he dropped it in the mud!” He pointed at the other boy. “Now it’s ruined!”

“Paul, don’t shout,” the teacher leaned down to look him in the eye in an attempt to calm him but he shook himself free of her glare. 

“He ruined my card!” 

“Okay, you boys need to split up. Sam, boys, go on.”

“But we were here first!” One of his friends shook his head. 

“No. I’m not hearing it. Sam, you go that way, Paul, you go that way. You’re in your senior year, you can deal with these things on your own.”

“But my card!” He tried to lean down to retrieve it from the mud but the teacher stopped either of them from moving. 

“Go your own separate ways, boys,” she repeated, firmer. 

“But-!”

“Paul, go on,” she pointed back to the library and Paul had to suck it up and retreat. 

Sam’s gang was still laughing at him as they left. 

He burrowed back into his corner in the library foyer, clutching the remains of his card deck with shaky hands. His heart was in his throat and he couldn’t breathe. 

Then came the scraping of the library doors again. 

“Go away Sam!” He shouted, pushing himself back into his corner. 

“Hey,” it was a girl’s voice. “Sam’s gone, man.” The girl from the courtyard leant around the corner of the foyer, examining him in his little corner. “I hate that guy.”

Paul nodded his head, looking at the floor.

“My name’s Melissa,” she sat down across from him. There wasn’t much space in his corner, their knees were almost touching. She didn’t seem to care about personal space, but Paul was watching her cautiously. 

“I know.” 

“You don’t talk much do you? I’ve heard about that. That’s okay, you don’t have to. I’m used to that. Did you see back at the courtyard there? I split the sea like Moses or something,” she laughed, but there was hurt in her voice. “Anyways uh, I thought maybe you’d want this back.” She pulled out his card from her pocket, placing it shyly on the floor in front of him. 

He reached out to it slowly, expecting her to tear it back. 

“It got a bit muddy. But you really looked like you liked it so I waited for the teacher to leave.”

He nodded his head graciously, his fingers brushing delicately over the card to try and get rid of the mud and dirt. 

She picked up her lunchbox under her arm, shifting her legs to prepare to stand back up and leave. “I’ll get out of your hair. It doesn’t look like you like company, and I’m the worst you’ll get,” she had a levity to the way she spoke, she was always joking. “I mean, unless you wanna trade, but there’s no way you’re taking my Espeon.”

Paul’s head snapped up to look at her and she froze in his stare. “What cards do you have?” 

Melissa blinked, sitting back down. “Uh. I only have a few on me.” She took out her phone, peeling off her phone case to reveal a small selection behind it. “These are my favourite ones. I carry them around for good luck.” 

“Oh,” Paul laughed, looking through them. There were only four, he could easily beat her team. “These aren’t very good. And this ones a fake.” He handed her back her Ampharos. The printing on the back of the card was upside down.

“Oh.” Melissa tucked the card back into her phone case. “I mean, but the others are pretty good aren’t they?” 

“Well. They aren’t bad. But can I tell you what’s wrong with them?”

“Oh, you want me to stay?” She gasped, putting her lunchbox down in her lap. 

“You actually want to listen to me?” He asked back. 

Melissa shrugged. “I mean sure. I’ll hear you out.” 

Paul beamed, pulling out his deck from his pocket. “Here, let me show you!” 

——————————————————— 

“Hey babe!” Emma called out as she took off her shoes at the front door.

“Bedroom!” He called back, setting his phone down to smile at her as she came in. 

“I got you something at work today,” she told him, unbuttoning her blouse and looking through their draws for her pyjamas. 

“Coffee?” He asked. 

“No,” she snorted, dumping her bag down on the floor to slip out of her work shirt. She turned around to kick her bag over towards the bed and pulled in her pyjamas shirt over her head. “So there was this family of super rowdy kids that came in,” she rolled her eyes, but didn’t seem to mind really. “And they had three or four kids, they were all trying to bustle them out the door because one of them got a few sips of his dad’s coffee and he just started going off the walls.” She finished changing and scooped her bag back off the floor.

“Did you bring me a child?” He asked, raising an eyebrow with a confused smile. 

“Oh yeah, totally. Just picked him up off the street, he didn’t put up a fight. All that birthing shit is too hard, committing crime is way easier.” She settled down besides him, scoffing.

Paul knew it was a joke, but he was going to wait for Emma to laugh before he did just to be certain. 

“No, babe,” she whacked him lightly on the shoulder as she sidled her legs under the covers. “I got you uhh,” she searched through her back, pulling back a small metal tin. “Those cards you like! I kept them at the counter all day but they never came back to collect them. We don’t have a lost and found so Nora said I could take them.” 

Paul ran his fingers over the tin, chuckling. “Pokémon cards?” 

“Yeah!” Emma nodded. “Those are the ones you liked right? There are so many these days.”

Paul lifted open the tin, shaking the cards out into his hand and checking the back to confirm they were genuine. “Yeah, they were the ones.”

She grinned, leaning down to kiss his cheek before sliding under the sheets and resting her head just off her pillow. “Good. It’d be a shitty surprise if you actually liked dragonball cards or whatever,” she snickered, shifting her head over to rest it on his arm so she could look up at the cards with him.   
“Who’s that?” She asked. 

“That’s Kabutops,” he told her.

“Oh well he’s sorta creepy looking,” she winced. “I thought they were all cute looking. But I only know pikachu, and I’m not even 100% sure that’s his name. Jane used to have this friend who was a Pokémon fanatic, and she had this little Pokémon keychain? It was this little yellow duck thing.”

“Psyduck,” Paul informed her. “I like him.”

“I didn’t have any Pokémon growing up,” Emma shrugged. “I had a soccer ball and a tamagotchi. We didn’t have that money and my dad wasn’t gonna buy me anything else to procrastinate with.”

“Oh, babe, I’ve got to show you the games.”

“I’ve heard about the games!” She nodded. “They’re still making them, right? My dad didn’t actually let us have that sort of stuff. Jane and I used to go down to the arcade and just blast our pocket money. The games were where it was at.”

“So you’ll let me show you them?”

“Yeah, duh. I want you to show me, babe!”

He continued palming through the deck, and Emma pointed out the cards she liked. Her favourite was Sandshrew, she told him she wanted one.   
But it was the card at the bottom of the deck that surprised him most.   
A holographic ivysaur.   
He laughed.

“Who’s that?” Emma tried to wriggled her way further up his arm until her head was resting on his shoulder. “Oh that card shines!”

“This is Ivysaur,” he passed the card down to her. “She’s my favourite.” 

Emma bit down on her tongue when she smiled. “That’s cool, I think my little rat guy could beat her though. What was her name?” 

“Sandshrew?”

“Yeah. My Sandshrew looked pretty strong. It could totally beat your Ivysaur in a fight.”

When he laughed again Emma flared at him. “What’s funny about that?” 

“Sandshrew’s a ground type and Ivysaur is a dual poison and grass type! Grass is super effective against ground types.”

“Oh. Well I didn’t know that,” she crossed her arms. “It’s no fair. You have like an encyclopaedic knowledge of these guys. You’ll have to teach me.”

“Oh! You want me to teach you?” He asked, his fingertips tingled as hey brushed over the deck of cards. 

“Yeah, I do!” She handed his Ivysaur back and Paul looked over it once more before tucking it into the back of his phone case. 

“Well, it’s a bit of a long story. There’s a lot of Pokémon. Do you mind?” He hesitated, expecting rejection. “There are 890 of them now!”

“Wow,” Emma’s eye’s went wide but she nodded. “That’s a lot of them!”

“Do you still wanna listen?” He asked, fiddling with his fingers. He was hoping she would say yes. He hadn’t been too into Pokémon since he was younger, but all that information was still in his head and no one had ever let him talk about it since Melissa.

“I told you I did babe!” She laid an arm out across his chest, making herself comfortable. “I’ve got time for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smacking my hands on the table: let him infodump!! Let him infodump!!!


	4. Charlotte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlotte isn’t alone in facing her fears anymore

“Any volunteers to go up first?” Mr Jefferson asked.

Charlotte gulped and started shuffling her palm cards in her hands to ensure they were all in the right order. 

“If no one puts up their hands I’ll have to choose someone.”

Charlotte’s heart skipped a beat and then picked up its pace. Was this what a heart attack felt like? Was she dying?   
She picked up her pen, pretending to scribble something down in her notebook so she looked too busy to go first.

Mr. Jefferson hummed, looking around the classroom. “Alright, I’m choosing someone.”

She felt his eyes fly over her, his head swivelling to one side of the classroom to the other and then back again. 

Charlotte’s toes scrunched up in her school shoes and she bit down on her lip. Please not her, please not her, please not-

“Charlotte!” He called. “Are your ready?” 

She looked up, her jaw dropping and the blood draining from her face. She couldn’t bring herself to nod. 

“Come on, better to go first than last, come get it over and done with.” 

Charlotte tidied her cue cards, pushing out her chair. When she stood she could feel how shaky her feet were, she didn’t think she would make it to the front of the classroom. 

And now all eyes were on her as she scooped up her cards and shuffled to the front of the room. Her palms were sweaty, and she couldn’t move her cards properly.   
“Um,” she looked around the room. 

There were way too many eyes on her, and Jefferson was giving her that examiners look, his pen on his paper   
ready to judge. 

She couldn’t swallow anymore, her throat too dry. “I did-“ she coughed, clearing her throat. “Good morning everyone, I did my persuasive on whether or not we should- I mean, sorry, whether or not schools should ban-“ she paused to take in a deep breath but that wasn’t as easy as she hoped it to be. She counted down from five in her head and straightened out her posture, lifting her chin and trying to be more confident. “Whether or not guns should be allowed on school campuses. I believe that-“

“I can’t hear her.”

Oh my god. This was it. This was how she died.  
She stared down the boy who had spoken, feeling her skin get hot and cold at the same time. 

“Can you speak up Charlotte?” The teacher asked. “We can’t hear you up the back.

She nodded, her head was dizzy and cloudy and her legs were still shaking. If she didn’t sit down soon she would collapse. “I did my persuasive on whether or not-“

“Just a little louder, and speak a little bit slower, Charlotte.” Everyone was looking at her with the same thoughts in their heads. 

Surely they could all tell she was shaking. There was no way she was going to make it through the speech. 

“I need to go to the nurses office right now,” her voice broke and squeaked and she was scared no one understood. And she didn’t have the guts to repeat herself if they didn’t, she would just talk until she fainted in that case.   
Thoughts were running through her head so fast that she was getting in about a hundred of them before anyone else spoke. 

“Can you make it through your speech first?” The teacher asked. 

“No,” she told him firmly. “I’m going to pass out.” 

“Charlotte, you’ll have to do the speech eventually,” he warned. 

“I know. I’m sorry, I will, I will. I just have to go to the nurse’s office right now.” She let her legs shake and her skin sweat and her head spin. If she looked sick enough he would have no other choice. 

“Alright. I’ll get you a hall pass, have a seat.” 

She had escaped it for now. But only for another day. 

————————————————————————

“Heey Charlotte, I need you to swing by the meeting this afternoon to fill everyone in on the new program,” Mr Davidson showed himself into the IT office with his cup of coffee. “Can you do that?”

Charlotte still got the same jitters as she used to. “I can do that,” she nodded. “Today?”

“Yeah, half past one? An investor is dropping in so make it nice,” he nodded to her once before strolling out.

Charlotte wrung her hands, looking at her computer screen. 

One of the things she looked forward to most after graduating was never having to do oral presentations ever again. She was sorely mistaken.   
Now she had two hours to prepare a speech about the new program they had been working on in IT, and to treat herself, once it was done she was taking her lunch and going home early whether she was allowed to or not. 

Where on earth where her other coworkers? She would only ruin it for the investor and for Mr Davidson, and everyone would see her ruin the presentation. 

She took a sip from her water bottle. Things could still be fine, nothing had gone wrong yet. 

She opened up a new word document, tapping out a quick run down of the program. 

Every time she glimpsed at the time it was like being pricked with a needle. It was going so fast! Somehow she only had an hour left already! She printed out her document, racing to the printer to pick it up. 

“What’s the hurry for, Char?” Ted was waiting by the printer for his own document. 

“I have to present in an hour!” She told him breathlessly, searching through the printer tray for her paper. “So I have to make these into cue cards and start to memorise it but I only have-“ she snatched up Ted’s wrist to look at his clock. “Fifty minutes!” 

“Woah, woah. You seem way to freaked out about this to give a speech.” 

“There’s an investor coming so Mr Davidson says it has to be good, I couldn’t let him down could I? I need to go now, Ted.” 

Ted meant against the wall, watching her separate her document from the pile of uncollected papers. “What’re you presenting about?”

“A new program we’ve made for the office,” she was fretting, brushing her hair from her eyes with her shoulder as she leant over.

“Do you not know how the program works?” Ted’s nose scrunched up.

“I do! But they don’t!”

“Then why do you need to prepare a speech? Can’t you just go in there and give ‘em a run down? It doesn’t even have to be three minutes.” He pinched the sheet from her hand. “Char, this is like, one and a half pages. That’s a bit thorough,” he laughed. 

“Well I-!”

He skimmed through it, mumbling along to himself as he read in between calm sips of his coffee. “Charlotte. Just go in there and tell them the program collects and graphs out sales data. They don’t care about codes or concepts. They just want to know if it works or not.”

Charlotte grabbed her paper back, scrunching it in her hands as she held it. It was a big lengthy. 

“Just go turn it into dot points, make a slide show or whatever. No one cares about anything this much!” He collected his own printing as it churned out of the machine. 

“But...” she looked down at it. It all seemed trivial now, none of it was any good. She had to redo it.

“Are you stressed about this?” He lowered his voice, stepping closer and putting a hand on her arm. “Char, it’s just Mr Davidson and his guys. The meetings probably gonna last ten minutes and then they’ll use the rest of the hour talking about their favourite cheese or some shit,” he scoffed when he laughed, his eyes rolling over to the conference room. 

Charlotte held her breath, slowly balling up the paper in her hands. “You really think so?”

“Sweetheart, I know so,” he didn’t intend for it to be condescending so he was lucky Charlotte was too in her head to pay attention to his tone. 

“Oh,” she unclenched her jaw. 

“The investors aren’t making a judgement based off your ability to public speak, Char. Promise.” 

She dropped the paper ball into the dustbin besides the printer, treading anxiously. “Promise?”

“Yeah!” His mood lifted when he noticed her’s doing the same. “Real life is nothing like high school.”


	5. Alice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things stay the same no matter what, and so you just have to look at them differently

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wait can y’all believe I’ve written like 80smn fics and this is the first time I’ve written from Alice’s POV

“You forgot to take her to her doctors appointment!?”

“I didn’t forget, I was just running late!”

Alice had a routine for when the arguing got this bad. She exchanged her lights for fairy lights and cuddled up in her blankets. She plugged in her headphones and turned the volume up on her favourite musicals.

But no matter how high it got she could still hear them arguing. 

“It’s simple! It’s one job! If I took her I wouldn’t run late!” 

Alice kneaded her blanket with her hands, humming along. She knew all the lyrics, and if she turned up the volume high enough maybe she could wring out the last few drops of dopamine.

“Well how could I control the traffic!?”

“You have to leave earlier! It’s always been a busy road! What would have made today any different?” 

Alice licked her dry lips, swallowing and clearing her throat before beginning to sing.  
She pumped up the volume higher. The higher the music the happier she should be, right? That’s why music is always so loud at parties and concerts, it’s better, and so she should be happier. It helped her pretend everything was fine anyways. 

“The doctor didn’t even call us in for another five minutes, what’s the big deal!?”

The music could still go louder, she turns it up until it hurts, and she deserved it. They’re arguing because of her. Because she couldn’t get her shoes on fast enough to get out the door. Because she couldn’t get home from school fast enough. 

She belted along to the music, but she could still hear them. She can still hear every word they shout. 

“Because you had to sign in! They aren’t going to call you until you sign in! You could’ve missed her appointment! Can’t you just make an effort for her!?”

Their voices barely grew muffled. 

Maybe she deserved to hear them. After all. She was who they were fighting over. It was her fault. She wished she could pull herself together enough for the both of them not to worry. They weren’t stressed because of the trip to the doctors office at all, no matter how much they were trying to convince themselves. 

“Well next time you take her to the doctor!”

“Trust me, I would if I had the time! But I actually have a proper job!”

She pulled the covers up over her head, pressing her ears into her pillow. She needed anything to cover up their screams.

Today, the doctor said all her problems were due to stress.  
———————————————————

‘Mum is pissed at dad because he let me go out to the starlight without him to look after me last night’

‘Are they loud?’ 

‘Loud as ever :(‘ 

‘Meet me @ oakleigh in like 5??’ 

‘<3 see you soon babe ilysm’ 

Alice tucked her phone into her pocket, pulling out her raincoat from her cupboard. 

Those two wouldn’t stop arguing with each other even if they were on the other side of the world. Some things will never change. 

She lingered at the bottom of the staircase, judging just how distracted her father was with the phone call. Way, way too distracted. 

She pushed open the front door without him even noticing, pulled up her rainhood and hurried out into the downfall. 

It was a light enough rain for an umbrella, but everyone else was off the streets. 

She broke out into a run so the angry feeling in her chest could be replaced with something other than burning. 

Deb was where she promised she’d be. As reliable as ever. She was waiting on the park bench below the trees - no real umbrella, just her classic yellow beanie. 

She waved over at Alice as she entered, her tongue between her grinning teeth as she headed over. 

“Hey,” Alice breathed, tucking herself under the tree besides her. 

“I swear, I’ve never met an adult who’s actually an adult. It’s always up to us to deal with their leftovers,” she shook her head, chuckling. 

Alice’s breath clouded out in front of her as she exhaled, letting the burning in her chest cool as she rested her head on Deb’s shoulder. She didn’t need to say a word. 

The fire in her chest filled into a cozy feeling, the flames turned into clouds, and a warm, fuzzy, pink feeling spread out through her body like an explosion of glitter. She slipped her cool hand into Deb’s warm palm. 

“You alright?” Deb asked, resting her other hand over Alice’s shoulder. “Adults are fucking whack, babe. It’s not your fault they fight so much.”

Alice nodded, watching Deb’s shoes kick up tanbark below the bench. “I know it’s not my fault anymore. But everything I hear is arguing. I mean, if they still fight this much what was the point of the divorce?” 

“Yeah. Well, adults are just bullshitters.” 

“I can’t believe they put me through that whole thing for nothing,” she grumbled.

“For nothing!” Deb repeated. “They’re stupid!” She kicked up her boot, spraying tanbark out into the rain. 

“Yeah,” Alice managed to laugh. “They could’ve saved a couple thousand.”

“Name one smart adult. I dare you,” Deb’s fingers twirled around Alice’s hair. 

“Uncle Paul?” 

Deb snorted so hard she nearly spat. “Your uncle Paul is great, but he’s a dumbass. He bends down to talk to us.” 

“When we grow up we won’t be so dumb,” Alice told her, her voice quiet in her ear. 

Deb’s lips tugged up in a smile, and she tilted her head to kiss Alice’s cheek. “Boomers, man. Let’s get mad about it.” She patted Alice’s shoulder so she would sit upright before leaning down and grabbing a rock from the ground.  
“Let’s get mad!” She cried out, her voice echoing through empty streets.  
She drew back her hand and pitched the stone out into the park.

“Deb, don’t yell, we’ll-“

“Get in trouble?” Deb snickered. “It’s alright, babe. I promise you. No ones coming out in this weather,” she came in close to pull Alice’s hood up, and planted a stone into her hand. “Toss it!” 

Nervous at first, she took a step out of the tree’s shelter, tossing the rock up in the air. It felt good. 

“Here, give me your phone.” She pulled it from Alice’s pocket, entering her passcode and going to her music. She pressed shuffle and turned the volume all the way up. 

“Deb!” Alice warned, laughing anxiously as her music blasted out into the empty park. 

“There’s no one watching, babe! Who cares?” She took both her hands, pulling them back and forth in a shitty dance as she stomped up the dirt. “Dance!” 

She was embarrassed, but she didn’t have a choice. “Oh my god, Deb!” Her face lit up red when her girlfriend began to sing.

Her voice was mocking at first, imitating the generic pop singer’s high voice and tossing her head from side to side. “We don’t have to worry Alice! Look!” She let go of her hand for one second to gesture out to the park and the streets, spinning Alice around. “The streets are empty, we’re the only two people in the whole world!” 

Alice grinned, leaning into her chest and letting Deb sing one half of the song in her jeering tone as she sung the other half of the duet a bit more seriously. 

They went through songs and songs, dancing shittily and singing just as poorly.  
Alice looked into Deb’s eyes as she twirled her before pulling her in. “I’ve got you, babe.”

She let the rain chill her, and she let herself get mad and sad and frustrated, and she let herself believe the world out there was cold because none of it mattered when Deb was so, so warm.


	6. Ted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What you don’t get as a kid is so much sweeter as an adult

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was short but it might’ve been my favourite actually !!

“Hey mum, dad!” Ted crawled up onto a chair at the dining room table. “Look!” He placed his report card down on the table. “I got four A’s this time!”  
He looked between his parents excitedly. 

His father peered over the edge of his newspaper, one hand reaching out to ruffle his hair. “Good job, kid.” 

“Mum?” He turned to her. 

She was speaking on the phone, but glanced down at his report card. “Good job, but I’m on the phone right now. Can you go play outside, Teddy?” 

“I got the best report card,” he told them.

“Oh, good on you, Teddy.” His father didn’t look up from the news this time. 

“Shhh,” his mother hushed, gesturing to his phone. 

Ted slumped in his chair, waiting for a moment to figure out what to do next. “I’m going outside,” he announced to deaf ears. 

Sometimes he wondered just how good his grades would have to be to earn any more than ‘good job’ and a pat on the back. 

He pulled his bike out from the garage, wheeling it into the back yard. 

His parents didn’t notice when he learned to ride his bike. He had copied his neighbour for weeks until his balance was just right and as proud as he was his parents paid it no attention. 

He was sure they’d realise it one day. Dad was always busy at work and he was tired when he got home, and mum was always tied up with jobs around the house. Making sure dinner was ready, doing the laundry and ironing, getting him ready for school. 

If he kept riding his bike, they’d notice when they had a second. 

He peddled around by the back window, glancing in when he could.  
But it was the same every time, mum on the phone and dad reading the news. 

He peddled faster, looping around the backyard so he could cruise slowly by the window again. 

He tried to lift his hand off the handlebar to wave at them, but his bike bumped over a rock and tossed him to the ground. 

“Ouch!” He winced, pulling himself slowly out from under his bike, trying not to let his eyes water. 

His knees were scraped and his palms torn up. He brushed them down sorely on his pants, flinching as his palms stung. 

His breaths grew shaky. There was a large, purple bruise already showing on his knee and when he tried to move his leg, a burning sensation ripped up his leg. His hand flew to his knee to nurse it but it hurt to touch too. 

“Mum!” He called, trying to manoeuvre himself to look in through the window, and listening out carefully for any recognition of his call. “Mum!” He tried again. 

He dragged himself a little further to the side, a shiver of pain ran down his bad leg as he dragged it over the grass. He let out a small yelp, throwing his head back and biting down on his tongue. 

Still, no one heard him. 

They hadn’t even heard him say he was heading outside. And they weren’t listening now. For all he knew, they’d never come looking for him. 

He didn’t like that idea, that he could be out there all night before his parents notice he was missing. He wanted to be inside now, his leg hurt and it was cold and he was thirsty and hungry and he couldn’t stay outside any longer. 

“Mum!” He called. “Dad!” He shouted at the top of his lungs, almost shrieking. The neighbours all the way down the street would have heard, but not his parents. 

No one was coming.  
———————————————————

Ted rolled his eyes at the company newsletter. 

‘Employee of the month’ was another stupid initiative booster created by his boss. No one payed it any attention.

He was almost giving them out at random. What had Ted even done that past month? 

He had done all his reports, but that was bare minimum, all the other employees who didn’t get it done were just below average. 

He shut the email, scoffing at it. He needed to get that out of his head, it was almost insulting. 

He headed through the hallways towards the break room, one hand tight around his coffee cup and the other in his pocket. 

“Hey! Good job, man,” someone he barely knew patted him on the back as he passed them. 

“Hah, for what?” He laughed over his shoulder, shaking his head. 

Surely the award wasn’t that big. God, if the IT crowd all had an award before him.  
anyone could. He was probably the last employee on the list.  
Even Melissa had won one three months ago, and his desk gave him front row seats to the fact she spends her whole days trying to do hand tricks with her pens if Davidson didn’t have a task for her.

Now for the rest of the day he was going to be a laughing stock for bearing the shitty, meaningless title.  
He got the award after the office assistant! It was insulting! 

When he pushed open the door to the break room he was greeted by about seven voices at once, some high, some low. 

“Hey! Lucky bastard!” Someone cheered. 

“Congratulations!” Someone else said.

Paul stood up from his chair, ushering Ted into it instead. “Good job! You really deserved it this month, Ted!”

He snorted. “Don’t patronise me, Paul.” 

“Huh?”

“What’d I do this month to get an award? It’s all bullshit, guys,” he clicked his tongue, but he enjoyed the attention. “All I did was my reports,” he shrugged. “I mean, and they must’ve been pretty bad too if Melissa got a trophy before me.” 

“That was because she did the whole overtime thing to prepare that meeting we all had. You know, the big one in the conference room with all the food and drinks. She even made that powerpoint and script for Mr. Davidson.”

“Wow,” Ted nodded. He didn’t know that, it was actually quite impressive. “What’d you win it for, Paul?” 

“I created a new program for the computers so that all our data gets compiled straight away.” 

“Oh! That’s why we don’t have to write those daily statements anymore,” Ted clapped Paul on the back. “Thank god, man! Well I haven’t done any shit like that!”

“Nah, you ran that accounting meeting for us after hours, remember?” One of his co workers in accounting spoke up. “It pissed James off. None of us wanted to stay for that, but you were crazy into it,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, but one of us had to run that meeting and get us on track,” he elbowed the worker next to him. 

“You took over that quarterly presentation last week too, Ted!” Paul chimed in. “You’ve done a lot this month, man! I’m going to Beanies, what do you want? It’s on me!”

“Brag about it to Emma for me if it’s such a big deal,” he just joked. “Chai ice tea.”

“Hah, I’m on it,” Paul nodded. 

“Yeah, I was gonna go down to the mall for lunch in a bit. What do you want man?” His accounting friend asked. “My treat.”

“It’s just a stupid title, man. Unless it gives me a raise, I don’t care,” he sneered, and the whole break room rippled with laughter. “I don’t need all this. Get Mr Davidson to give me my own office, and then maybe we’ll talk celebrating.” He received another round of laughter which he brushed off with a chuckle of his own. 

But that was exactly how he liked it - all eyes on him.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m just a bit burnt out after that last fic so here’s just a few quick little stories in the mean time !


End file.
